Age
“The older I get, the more I recall, how little I knew, when I knew it all.”
“As we grow older, it becomes difficult to just believe. It’s not that we don’t want to, but too much has happened that we just can’t.”-Gaby Hoffman (Now and Then)
“When you feel like criticizing the younger generation, just remember who raised them.”
“Enjoy yourself. These are the good ol’ days you are going to miss in the days ahead.”
“You grow up the day you have your first real laugh at yourself.”-Ethyl
Barrymore
America, United States of
and all that goes with it
"A despicable act of blind hatred has failed completely to tear us apart." -Kevin Spacey
about September 11, 2001
"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." -Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Democracy means not, 'I am as good as you are,' but 'You are as good as I am.'" -Theodore Parker
"In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved." -Franklin D. Roosevelt
"Our institutions of freedom will not survive unless they are constantly replenished by the faith that gave them birth." -John Foster Dulles
"Sometimes people call me an idealist. Well, that is the way I know I am an American. America is the only idealistic nation in the world." -Woodrow Wilson
"A little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical." -Thomas Jefferson
"One heart, one hope, one destiny, one flag from sea to sea." -Kate Brownlee Sherwood
"America... It is a fabulous country, the only fabulous country; it is the only place where miracles not only happen, but where they happen all the time." -Thomas Wolfe
"We on this continent should never forget that men first crossed the Atlantic not to find soil for their ploughs but to secure liberty for their souls." -Robert J. McCracken
"'Tis not in numbers but in unity that our great strength lies." - Thomas Paine
"One has the right to be wrong in a democracy." - Claude Pepper
"America is another name for oportunity. Our whole history appears like a last effort of divine providence on behalf of the human name." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
"If I added to their pride of America, I am happy." -Carl Sandburg
"The government is the strongest of which every man feels himself a part." -Thomas Jefferson
"There is nothing wrong with America that together we can't fix." - Ronald Reagan
"The only thing that has ever distinguished America among the nations is that she has shown that all men are entitled to the benefits of law." -Woodrow Wilson
"Ours is not only a fortunate people but a very common sensical people, with vision high but their feet on the earth, with belief in themselves and faith in God." -Warren G. Harding
"What we need are critical lovers of America-patriots who express their faith in their country by working to improve it." -Hubert H. Humphrey
"You cannot conquer America." -William Pitt
"One flag, one land, one heart, one hand, one nation, evermore!" -Oliver Wendell Holmes
"Patriotism is just loyalty to friends, people, families." -Robert Santos
"Let us remember that our national unity is our most priceless asset." -Gerald Ford
"If I have to lay an egg for my country, I'll do it." -Bob Hope
"We would rather die on our feet than live on our knees." -Franklin Roosevelt
When asked by a Canadian customs agent if he had anything to declare:
"Sure. I'm proud to be an American." -Steve Foster
"We shall be judged more by what we do at home than what we preach abroad." -JFK
"America is the great melting pot." -Israel Zanquill
"True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else." -Clarence Darrow
"The cement of this Union is the heart blood of every American." -Thomas Jefferson
"There are those, I know, who will say that the liberation of humanity, the freedom of man and mind, is nothing but a dream. They are right. It's the American dream." -Archibald MacLeish
"God bless the USA, so large, so friendly, and so rich." -W.H. Auden
"The whole inspiration of our life as a nation flows out from the waving flods of this banner."
"I was born an American; I will live an American; I shall die an American." -Daniel Webster
"If our country is worth dying for in time of war, let us resolve that it is truly worth living for in time of peace." -Hamilton Fish
"America is a willingness of the heart." -F. Scott Fitzgerald
"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" -Emma Lazarus
"The truth is, all might be free if they valued freedom, and defended it as they ought." -Samuel Adams
"Not merely a nation, but a nation of nations." -Lyndon B. Johnson
"The will of the people is the best law." -Ulysses S. Grant
"Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better." -Albert Camus
"Double-no triple-our troubles and we'd still be better off than any other people on earth." -Ronald Reagan
"Intellectually I know that America is no better than any other country; emotionally I know she is better than every other country." -Sinclair Lewis
"Freedom is still expensive. It still costs money. It still costs blood. It still calls for courage and endurance, not only in soldiers, but in every man and woman who is free and who is determined to remain free." -Harry S. Truman
"It is the duty of government to make it difficult for people to do wrong, easy to do right." -William E. Gladstone
"There can be no fifty-fifty Americanism in this country. There is room here for only one hundred percent Americanism, only for those who are Americans and nothing else." -Theodore Roosevelt
"You can't prove you're an American by waving Old Glory." -Helen Gahagan Douglas
"There is a simple way to take the true measure of a country - think about how many people want to get in... and how many want to get out." -Tony Blair
"Aux armes, citoyens! Formez vos bataillons! Marchons! Qu'un sang impur abreuve nos sillons!" -La Marseillaise
"... one of the most stupid political decisions ever made by France... which is saying something." -Patrick Brady
Animals
“No matter how little money and how few possessions you own, having a dog makes you
rich.”-Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul
“Broke-Need dog food.”-Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul
“If your home burns down, rescue the dogs. At least they’ll be faithful to you. -Lee Marvin
“If your dog thinks you’re the greatest person in the world, don’t seek a second opinion.”-Jim Fiebig
“Everybody gets fifteen minutes of fame once in his lifetime. We pet owners get our fifteen minutes every time we come home-or even return from the next room.”-Chicken Soup for the Pet Lovers Soul
“The final cause of dogs having such short lives...is in compassion to the human race; for
if we suffer so much in losing a dog after an acquaintance of ten or twelve years, what
would it be if they were to live double that time?”-Sir Walter Scott
"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea." -
Armed Forces (sorta)
“What’s the difference between the army and cubscouts? Cubscouts don’t have heavy
artillery.”-Robin Williams (Good Morning Vietnam)
“Seeing as how the VP is such a VIP, shouldn’t we keep the PC on the QT, cause of the leaks to the VC, he could end up in the MIA, and then we would all be put out in KP.”-Robing Williams (Good Morning Vietnam)
“God help you if you’re wrong.” “If I am wrong, then we’re at war. God help us all.” -Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman
“Sir? Do you see anything on this uniform? What does 3-up and 3-down mean to you airman?” “End of an inning?” -J.T. Walsh and Robin Williams (Good Morning Vietnam)
“Military Intelligence? There’s a contradiction in terms.” -Good Morning Vietnam
“Five months in Saigon, and your best friend turns out to be a VC. This will not look good on a resume!”-Good Morning Vietnam
“Now, you mummy’s darlings, get a rift on them boots. Definitely shine ‘em, my little curly-headed lambs, for in our mob war or no war, you die with clean boots on.”-Gerald Kersh
"One man defending his homeland is more powerful than ten hired soldiers."-Robin Hood: Prince of Theives
"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others simply because you were born in it."-George Bernard Shaw
Calvin and Hobbes
“There’s not enough time to do all the nothing you want.”-Calvin and Hobbes
“I’ve been thinking.” “On a weekend?” “Well, it wasn’t on purpose.” -Calvin and Hobbes
“Know what’s weird? Day by day, nothing seems to change, but pretty soon...everything’s different.”-Calvin
“I think we dream so we don’t have to be apart so long. If we’re in each other’s dreams we can be together all the time.”-Calvin
“The end of summer is always hard on me...trying to cram in all the goofing off I’ve been meaning to do.”-Calvin
“Nobody knows how to pamper like a mom.”-Calvin
"You can present the material, but you can't make me care."-Calvin
"I say if your knees aren't green by the end of the day, you ought to seriously re-examine your life."-Calvin and Hobbes
"Weekends don't count unless you spend them doing something completely pointless."-Calvin
Encouragement
“To the world, you are but one little person, but to one little person, you are the
world.”
“To love what you do, and feel that it matters, how could anything be more fun?”
“Don’t try to be a great man. Just be a man. Let history make it’s own judgments.”-Jonathon Frakes (ST:First Contact)
“I am not a celebrity. I am not a show. I am not unreachable or untouchable. I am a promise that you made to yourself when you were a little girl, and I am coming true.” -Nike ad
“You’ve got potential. Be prepared to use it.”-told to me by Blaine Rogers
“Work like you don’t need the money. Love like you’ve never been hurt. Dance like nobody’s watching.”-Ann Landers
“Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die tomorrow.”
“Don’t worry about the world ending today. It’s already tomorrow in Australia.” -Charles Schulz
“O wonderful, wonderful, and most wonderful wonderful! And yet again wonderful.”-William Shakespeare
“Do it big, do it right, and do it with style.”-Fred Astaire
“Only those that risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”-T.S. Elliot
“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal.”-Henry Ford
“If you believe the impossible, the incredible can happen.”-Field of Dreams
“Often the test of courage is not to die, but to live.”-Vittorio Alfieri
“Don’t focus on the problem but look beyond it...learn to see what no one else chooses to.”-Robin Williams (Patch Adams)
“Practice excessive happiness.”-Patch Adams
“Anything I’ve ever done that ultimately was worthwhile...initially scared me to death.”
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. You are the guy who’ll decide where to go.”-Dr. Suess
“It never hurts to keep looking for sunshine.”-Eeyore
“It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop.”-Confucius
“Smile, it makes people wonder what you’ve been up to.”
“I have to be me. Everyone else was already taken.”
"To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, this is to have succeeded." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
Yesterday is the past. Tomorrow is the future. But today is a gift. That's why it's called the present."-Bil Keane
"If you're going to be able to look back on something and laugh about it, you might as well laugh about it now."-Marie Osmond
"Find out what you like doing best and get someone to pay you for it."-Katherine Whitehorn
"Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done and why. Then do it."-Robert Heinlein
"Be sure you are right, then go ahead."-Davy Crockett
"Some of the greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible."-Doug Larson
"Many of life's failures are people who didn't realize how close they were to success when they gave up."
"Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently."-Henry Ford
"Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do."-Benjamin Spock, M.D.
"Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me,and I may not forget you."-William Authur
"I've never had a humble opinion. If you've got an opinion, why be humble about it?"-Joan Baez
"We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once."-Calvin Coolidge
"Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the face."-Helen Keller
"Inventors and men of genius have almost always been regarded as fools at the beginning of their careers."-Dostoevsky
"A hero is one who knows how to hang on one minute longer."-Norwegian proverb
"The big shots are only the little shots who keep shooting."-Christopher Morley
"It wasn't until late in life that I discovered how easy it is to say, 'I don't know.'"-Somerset Maughn
"Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent."-Eleanor Roosevelt
"If it's a good idea...go ahead and do it. It is much easier to apologize than it is to ask permission."-Grace M. Hopper
"They are able because they think they are able."-Virgil
"Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."-John Wooden
"Be happy while you're living, for you'll be dead a long time."-Scottish proverb
"Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been."-Mark Twain
"There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes."-Dr. Who
"Never give up on anybody. Miracles happen every day."
"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."-Carl Sagan
"Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn't know it, so it goes on flying anyway."-Mary Kay Ash
"To be honest with you, I don't have the words to make you feel better. But I do have arms to give you a hug. I have ears to listen to whatever you want to talk about. And I have a heart - A heart that's aching to see you smile again."
"What I really don't want to do is end up always wondering what might have happened and knowing I could have done something."-Sleepless in Seattle
"When you love someone, you've got to trust them. There's no other way. You've got to give them the key to everything that's yours. Otherwise, what's the point?"-Casino
"When you can't change the direction of the wind, adjust your sails."-Max Depree
"Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy you must have someone to divide it with."-Mark Twain
"Be joyful, it beats being happy."-Warren Weirsbe
"May the road rise to meet you. May the wind be always at your back The sun shine warm upon your face. The rain fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of his hand."-Irish Traditional
"Think only of the past as its rememberance gives you pleasure."-Jane Austen
"I'd rather have three-fourths of a Susan than no Susan at all." -Joe Drummer
"People who dance are considered insane by those who can't hear the music." -George Carlin
"All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost." -J.R.R. Tolkien
"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all." -Oscar Wilde
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." -Theodore Roosevelt
"Whatever you are, be a good one." -Abraham Lincoln
"There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly." -Buckminster Fuller
"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." -Anne Frank
"Always do right. This will gratify some people, and astonish the rest." -Mark Twain
"By making mistakes, we learn." -Italian Proverb
